My Musical Musings Blog | betsyleebaileymusic.com - The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey

Palm Sunday Hymn

4/13/2025

"All Glory, Laud and Honor" is a wonderful hymn that I don't remember hearing sung that often in my congregations. That is probably because our Easter "season" gets preempted a lot by General Conference. I don't think I even realized how old this hymn is.

"All Glory Laud and Honor" is an English translation by the Anglican clergyman John Mason Neale of the Latin hymn "Gloria, laus et honor" which was written by Theodulph of Orléans in 820. It is a Palm Sunday hymn, based on Matthew 21:1–11 and the occasion of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. "All Glory, Laud and Honor" is sung to the hymn tune ST. THEODULPH, which is also known as "Valet will ich dir geben." Melchior Teschner wrote this as a hymn for the dying, as his village was decimated by the plague in 1613. It was first published, along with a second melody, as Ein andechtiges Gebet, Liepzig, 1614. (See Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship.)

My arrangement was heavily influenced by the Classical (1750-1820) composers and even gives a nod to part of Mozart's "Requiem" which I had been singing at the time. (You really can't go wrong singing the "Hosannas" similar to Mozart's style.)

When I wrote this arrangement for my little ward choir, we had very few men who could dedicate time for choir rehearsals, and they were all basses. So, I decided to voice this for three parts. The usual way of modulating for a change on the last verse is to take the melody a step or two higher. However, as I mulled this problem over thinking about my singers and how I wanted unison in the last verse, I decided that I actually needed to put it in a lower key. My Altos and Basses thanked me later.

All Glory Laud and Honor - SAB with Piano

Spring Is Finally Here

3/28/2025

Forsythia Bush

This morning, my little grandchildren were up early watching cartoons, when suddenly, Peter and CJ looked out the window and noticed the forsythia bush finally covered with yellow blossoms. We have been watching other forsythia bushes blooming and wondered when ours would erupt in blossom. Well, today is the day! The promise of warmer weather and spring flowers has been a hot topic in our household for the past few weeks. It's so nice when the earth finally wakes up!

A few years ago, I was scrolling through Facebook and came across something that took me off guard. The post was by a director who posted that her choir was learning "Forget Me Not, O Lord," and she had seed packets for the choir members to help them create a memory with the song. What a wonderful idea! Such a "spring" thing to do!

It was such a thrilling experience to create this song. I was asked to take the words from then President Uchtdorf's talk (newly delivered at the Women's Broadcast in September 2011) and create a piece to be included in the birthday gift basket from the Tabernacle Choir in November (just a few weeks away). When the song was finished, we gathered some 27 singers from the choir to record it.

I felt that the song needed three verses. The first, sung by the sopranos, would be from the perspective of the tiny flower. The second, sung by the altos, would be from the perspective of a woman. And the third, sung by the men, would be from the perspective of our loving Heavenly Father. At the end, all of the individual parts would be sung together. The wonderful singers from the TabChoir were so skilled at sight-singing and blending! We spent just a few minutes learning the song, and then recorded it. Oh, that every choir I directed had such beautiful and talented singers!

Then President Uchtdorf was so pleased when he heard "Forget Me Not, O Lord" on the CD that he asked me and my husband to come visit with him so that he could thank me in person. He hoped that the song would be sung throughout the Church for many years to come. That message was so very special to him.

Like the little flower, you think you are alone,
So lost and insignificant and slight.
Our Father knows your needs, each child is loved and known.
His precious children are the source of His delight.
You are known.
You are loved.
Though you at times may feel so small,
He'll ease your pains.
He'll dry your tears
And give you power to fill the measure of your being.

A Mary or a Martha?

3/24/2025

We all know that Christ was actually born during lambing season in the Spring. We also know that His crucifixion and resurrection happened in the Spring. So, why then couldn't some "Christmas" songs also be used for Easter?

Yesterday, the Relief Society teacher at Church asked the class "if there was ever a time in your life when you were both a 'Mary' and a 'Martha.' A Mary because you needed time to be taught by and feel the love of the the Savior, a Martha because you also needed to be of service to those around you."

I immediately thought back to a time in my life when I desperately wanted to feel the Savior's love and be strengthened. One night, all of my children got the stomach flu in the same 24 hour period. Somehow I was spared so that I could care for them. But it was not fun. I brought them all down to the family room where I could pass the bucket easier and also monitor their needs. During that tense and sleepless night, I desperately wanted to be a Mary, but needed to be a Martha and serve my family.

In between bouts of rushing around and cleaning up messes, I realized that I could take a minute and look out the window. I pondered the beautiful sky. The stars were brightly shining against the ink-black darkness. Somehow, amidst all of the chaos happening around me, I was able to hear the strains of a beautiful sacred song forming in my mind. In the music, I was transported to the hills of Judea on the night of Christ's birth. I saw the angel make the announcement to the shepherds. I heard the joyful singing of the angels as the Heavens opened. I followed the shepherds to the stable place where the Babe was born. I, too, felt the joy and wondered at our Heavenly Father's perfect gift to the world and the mission and ultimate Atonement and Resurrection of the Savior.

There, in that moment, I felt loved and strengthened. Even though I was so tired, I was in fact lifted up in thinking and planning a new sacred song.

My over-active brain even puzzled about one phrase of the lyric that came to me. "And angel choirs with tongues of fire sang praise to the King of Kings." I wondered if I could say "tongues of fire" in the lyric. So, as soon as I had the chance, I went to the scriptures to find out if "tongues of fire" had a scriptural basis. Indeed it had. "Tongues of fire" means "speaking with the power and influence of the Holy Ghost." Exactly! This inspired phrase was perfectly right! The angels who sang at Christ's birth were certainly singing with the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. His main purpose is to testify of truth. It was definitely appropriate to use that phrase in the lyric.

It is amazing to me how the Lord has power to buoy us up amidst our difficulties and give us power to overcome, even if it is just in having a higher perspective. Surely there are times when we can be both a Mary and Martha simultaneously.

I hope choirs will enjoy singing "King of Kings" both at Christmas or at Easter.

Singing Together in the Historic Tabernacle

3/15/2025

Carolyn Thompson Lee

Our mother created music wherever she went. She herself was a beautiful singer and a very talented all-round musician and pianist. Our house was always filled with music and singing --- many, many music lessons and rehearsals!

Carolyn Thompson Lee came from a very musical family with a long history of singing in the Tabernacle Choir. Her Welsh ancestors likely made up the first choirs to sing for General Conferences when the Pioneers first settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Those Welsh choral singers made up the basis of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir after the Tabernacle was built in 1867. (Records of choir members weren't officially kept until later.)

Her mother Lora Harmon Thompson sang in the Choir during the time of WWI. Just after WWII, Carolyn went to play for her brothers Sam and John to audition for the Choir. Even though she was pregnant, the brothers nudged her to sing, too. They were all invited to join the choir. Then, as soon as brother Bob got out of the army, he joined, as well. During the late 1950s-1960s, all four of them sang in the Tabernacle Choir together. My mother bragged about how her voice was the highest voice heard on their Gold Record recording of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in 1959.

Benny, Betsy, Bobby, Barby, and baby Billy. (Bonnie came along later.)

Growing up with our mother meant that we were singing from practically the moment of birth. We learned to sing in parts early on. In fact, we got so accustomed to holding our own parts, that we fiercely demanded that nobody else got to sing "our notes." Mom eventually had to write in six-part harmony so that we could each have our own notes to sing.

But as grown-ups we never had the opportunity to sing together in choirs, aside from the occasional Family Shows we did. We lived so far apart from each other when we were raising our families. Nowadays, four of us siblings live in Utah County, but two brothers still live on the opposite coasts of America.

Last night was rather historic for us Lee Siblings when four of us plus Bob's wife Penny found ourselves singing together in the Historic Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Bonnie and I had sung there many times as part of the Tabernacle Choir, but we had never sung there with Barbara, Bob and Penny.

Betsy Bailey, Penny Lee, Bob Lee, Bonnie Lee, Barbara Acheson

This year we all decided to sing in the Wasatch Master Chorale in Provo. We have been having a delightful time making music together in this community group. 2024-2025 is their 50th Anniversary season, so the Wasatch Chorale has been doing some big events. Our conductor is Allison Unsworth, wife of Andrew Unsworth, Tabernacle organist. So, it was only fitting that we perform the Durufle' "Requiem" with Andy playing the Tabernacle Organ. This particular Requiem is mostly an organ showpiece with ancillary parts for chorus. Pretty cool!

Such fun singing in the Tabernacle again and feeling our ancestors' presence with us in that historic place! (I hope the carved angel statues at the tops of the pipes were smiling down on us!)

Picking Music for Stake Conference

1/15/2025

At rehearsal for a Stake Conference Choir the other night I was asked by a friend, "So, is it fun or boring to sing songs that you know so well and could probably sing in your sleep?" This friend knew I had sung in the Tabernacle Choir and that we were singing one of Mack Wilberg's arrangements that we had sung regularly in that choral organization. All I could answer was "yes."

The trouble with singing the Wilberg arrangement of "The Spirit of God" is that small choirs can't really do it justice. It starts with one male voice, then goes to two, then a trio, then 4-part men, then finally SSAATTBB when the women are added at the end. It keeps building and building, or it should, but our group of less than fifty voices just can't seem to make that happen. But we will do our best.

I just feel bad when a group of singers are all trying so hard but they run out of gas before the climax. Mack Wilberg wrote for large college choirs and then an even larger group with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square plus rather powerful organs in the Tabernacle and Conference Center with equally powerful organists. No wonder that particular arrangement is so masterful.

But then there is reality.

Personally, I would rather listen to a choral group that sings music that plays to their strengths such as sticking with solid SATB with possible splits with a descant or high note for the soprani at the very end. I love when the group sounds balanced, blended, and powerful --- not when they fizzle out before the climax.

Another problem with singing a song you have memorized and your part doesn't even come in until the last few pages is that you have to wait through everyone else's learning time. Now, generally, I like rehearsals, but even for me, I start to lose patience when the other women in the choir just can't keep from whispering and talking amongst themselves during their down time. It seems to me that the choir director would take that into account and at least choose music that everybody gets equal time to sing.

On a more positive note, however, I was told at rehearsal that the other song that will be sung during this January Stake Conference will be one of my duet arrangements. "Lead Kindly Light" will be sung by two competent singers. So, though I don't know if they will sing the higher or lower version, I am sure they will do a good job. I am excited to hear them sing.

"Lead Kindly Light" is available in 2-part chorus or duets of equal voices in both higher and lower versions.

Agreeing on Choral Vocabulary

1/11/2025

Like our guest conductor said today at our workshop, teaching vocal technique is a dark art. It requires a lot of black magic to get it right. Whenever a choir gets together to sing, they bring all sorts of variations in singing experience. A conductor usually spends a good amount of effort making sure that the singers in his choir can agree on the sounds he wants them to make.

Blending, vowel formation, breathing, articulations, and many other techniques cannot be taught the same way a stringed or brass instrument is taught. A person's individual vocal instrument doesn't have buttons or strings that can be pushed a certain way to produce particular sounds the same way every time. And each personal instrument can sound different.

Voice teachers and conductors may resort to telling some abstract visualizations to help. The vocal mechanism is basically a tube from the lungs to the mouth where the sound is controlled by the vocal folds in the larynx and modified by the tongue, teeth and mouth shapes to created tones and words. In order get the students to produce good breath and tone quality, he may use instructions like "breathe from your diaphragm," use a "sky hook" to maintain good posture, or "imagine focusing the tone from your raised soft palate", etc. They may never use the actual anatomical terms because most people don't remember difficult words like that.

Dr. Brent Wells who currently teaches choral music and directs two choirs at BYU, gave a lot of good advice today in our workshop. I appreciated how he wanted our choral group to learn to agree on vocabulary so that we could more easily adjust our tone production during rehearsals.

For example, he wanted us to learn five different positions to be able to produce our blended choral sounds. For instance, #1 would be a very bright, nasal sound. He demonstrated this by touching the tip of his nose and singing like "Ado Annie" from the musical "Oklahoma." That character's sound was not a good choral sound because it cannot easily blend with other voices. He had us try to replicate that sound. (Not pleasant.)

#5 sound is created by singing deep in the throat (or lowering the Adam's apple). This is too dark of a sound and not easily blended.

He had us also practice singing in the other more pleasing positions. #2 would be imagining the sound focusing forward by touching either side of the nose. It is a bright, forward tone, ringing but not nasally. Position #3 is a high-cheek position or what some teachers call "singing from the mask," still with a bright buzzing ring. #4 is focused more from the soft palate in the back of the mouth. Most choral singing ranges from #3 and #4 positions.

He worked with us to do a better job of pulling air into our lungs using the muscle of the diaphragm. (Incidentally, the diaphragm is a flat muscle like a pancake that only has one job -- to pull air into the lungs. It cannot help support the tone.) We worked on keeping our breastbones high and still, and supporting the tone with our abdominal wall muscles.

Getting a blended beautiful sound from a choir takes a lot of effort from everybody and it starts with having all the singers agree on choral vocabulary and how to use it.

Choosing a Theme for a Concert or Program

12/5/2024

One of the most frequent questions I have been asked is "How do you choose a theme to build your concert or program around?"

That is a very difficult question, especially at Christmas time. Depending on what type of concert or program you are doing, possibly the easiest way to choose a theme is to look for a great song title and arrangement.

There have been so many great songs written for Christmas that no matter the style of your concert or the group you are working with, a theme songs is sure to emerge that will fit the bill.

For example, if you are working with a show choir, large or small, old or young, pop or traditional, you'll be able to find many songs that can serve as the THEME. Examples may be:

"We Need a Little Christmas," "Happy Holidays," "Deck the Halls," "Be a Santa," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and so many more.

If you are doing a concert of more classical choral offerings, you may choose:

"Sing We Now of Christmas," "O Holy Night," "Gloria," or any title of the choral work and composer you are going to feature such as "Handel's "Messiah."

If you are putting together a program for a Church meeting, you might choose titles of traditional CAROLS or sacred songs like:

"Joy to the World," "Come to the Manger," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and so many others.

Then, of course, you may find a new-ish piece that has a fetching title, and base your concert around it's theme such as:

"Ring Glad Christmas Bells," "O Tidings of Comfort and Joy," "On a Sacred, Still and Silent Night," "Lord of All." "The Greatest Christmas Card in the Whole Wide World," "Under the Christmas Tree," "The Christmas Alphabet," or "Don't Wait 'til the Night Before Christmas to Be Good"

Enjoy this arrangement of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" for SATB, Piano and Cello.

On Top of the Pitch

10/28/2024

One of the most difficult things to work on in a small choir is matching pitch. In a Ward Choir, for example, the singers are generally untrained and older, so they may already have issues.

Untrained voices may have trouble with vowel formations, unruly vibrato troubles, or just lack of concept of how to blend with other voices.

Older singers may just not have the breath control to do the singing they used to. Sagging pitch or tone quality is the result.

As a conductor, you may have to do more vocal warm-ups and teaching to get the voices to adjust their vowel placement, support the tone better, and encourage staying on top of the pitches.

However, as a conductor of a small choir with older voices, you can also choose music that avoids issues that cause problems for older voices. For example, LONG SLOW Held-Out PHRASES, big variations in DYNAMICS, extremes in EXTENDED RANGES, and the need to use fancy VOCAL TECHNIQUES.

You could start by sizing up your group. If you generally have less than three in a section, avoid any music with split parts such as SSAATTBB. In fact, you may be wisest to use songs with mostly unison or two parts with occasional splits to SATB in some sections.

Be careful if you have a few great voices that overpower all the rest. Those singers may have fragile egos and will not stay if they cannot sing mostly in their natural full voices. This makes it hard to manage a blended sound in the choir.

So you may need to choose the music you perform with this situation in mind. If you have that one baritone that has a great sound but is louder than the rest of the men put together, make sure you use that to your advantage. Put all of the men on the same part as that baritone. Strength in numbers --- as well as the hope of a more blended sound.

It's all up to you as a conductor to navigate the delicate egos and enthusiastic less-trained singers you may have in your small choir. To be successful, you must keep everybody happy. Good luck!

Always have a few 2-part pieces ready to rehearse in between your more challenging pieces. Two part hymn arrangements are excellent for practicing choral techniques such as matching pitches, blending tone quality, and staying on top of the pitches. See Easy 2-Part Mixed Chorus

Getting Into a Groove

9/30/2024

Occasionally I have been asked to fill in for our ward choir director. I actually enjoy directing choirs, so that is not an imposition. But this week I wasn't sure if I could even get there on time. I lead the singing in our ward for Sacrament Meeting at 9:00, then drove 40 miles to get to my granddaughter's Primary Presentation by 11:00, then drove back to my town for choir practice at 1:00 pm. I got to my choir practice a few minutes late, but hardly anyone was there yet. We decided to start anyway even though we just had one Bass, 6 Altos, and two Sopranos. Eventually a few more men came.

We took a vote on which song we thought that our director was most likely to choose for us to perform in a few weeks. (None of us remembered exactly.) Our director has been having us read through many pieces just to get the feel of what she really wants us to do, so we have a lot of music in our folders. The one we decided to work on the most was a version of "This Is My Father's World." It has a lovely violin part as well as the SATB and piano parts.

This not my recommended way of trusting a substitute to run a rehearsal. Usually the substitute is given some instructions on what to work on at least. Unfortunately, I felt unprepared. I don't recommend sight-reading the parts you are supposed to be teaching.

Anyway, I decided that I would default to my usual choral conducting strategies. We began with a few vocal warm-ups. Then we dove into learning the piece. This was the first week during this Fall season we had so many altos there at the same time. It became evident right away that this particular group needed work on matching vowels and pitches. So, we worked to modify "ah" and "oh" sounds and the hard one -- the short "a" as in "cat." Soon, they were doing much better.

Another big part of this piece was the need to hold out notes for impossible lengths of time. We had to do a lesson on "Staggering Breaths 101." We practiced coming in and out of a line fading out the notes, sneakily snatching breaths at different times, and then quietly coming back in. Soon they were working as a team.

The last note of the piece suddenly becomes unison from a dissonant 4-note chord. That took some effort to realize that on a sudden unison soft note EVERYONE has to become even softer than the pianissimo they were positioned on in the previous measure.

It took some work, but we made some good progress. The problem will be that the next time we meet, we may have a completely different leader and voices, many who have never worked on these issues before. But at least our efforts were lending some consistency to get our ward choir into a groove this Fall season.

Comments from the accompanist, "You are quite the pistol," and "Do you have a lead foot?"

(He was referring to how fast I ran rehearsal and how I must have broken a few speed limits to get back in time for our rehearsal. Which I didn't, there just wasn't much traffic.)

Choosing Favorites

9/26/2024

When I am asked to choose a few favorites from the choral pieces that I have composed, I have a hard time. How do you choose a favorite child? But I can say that it helps when other people have told me their favorites of my work. So, here are a few from that short list:

"Forget me Not, O Lord" came about because the head of the Birthday Committee in the Tabernacle Choir asked me to write a couple of pieces to record on a CD to give to then President Dieter F. Uchtdorf for his birthday in November 2011. (27 choir members recorded it for the CD) He was pleased and asked me and my husband to come to his office to tell me so personally. He had just delivered his talk by that title at the Women's session of General Conference a few weeks earlier.

"My Promised Land" was written to celebrate my father's 80th Birthday during the 4th of July holidays one year. My extended family as well as my dad loved singing this meaningful patriotic song (especially my alto sister Barbara who always asks me to write low "money" notes for her).

"Come Unto Him" was written for no particular reason beyond needing something new for my Ward Choir to sing. They liked challenge pieces, and I had some very talented singers. Besides, I was inspired by my Stake President's talk on that text from Matthew 11:28-29.

"Glory to God on High" - I can't remember now if I wrote this first as a solo or as a choral. In either case, it is just fun to sing.

"A Christmas Carol" - I actually wrote this in college back when the movie "Scrooge" was fairly new. Being a high soprano, I really wanted the opportunity to sing the fun obligato in the last verse. So, I wrote this medley pairing it with "Deck the Halls." It was first performed by my little brother's high school a cappella choir that Christmas. Our family loved singing it, too, through the years.

"On a Sacred, Still and Silent Night" is my all-time-quickest-to-write song. It went from an idea while I was sitting at a stoplight on a dreary winter day to three hours later being rehearsed by some of my college kids home for the holidays to sing in Church the next day. Our family and a couple friends' families did a Christmas concert at the Washington D. C. Temple Visitor's Center every year for five years. We often used this song with my son playing guitar, a friend on violin, and a lovely lyrical dancer. In 2020 during COVID, our extended family created a music video of this song with our grandkids acting out a Nativity Pageant. I guess this has to be my personal favorite.

The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey copyright 2020